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They say necessity is the mother of all inventions. Not that I invented pear breads but I did however have to come up with something easy, delicious and “pear involve” since my pear tree was overflowing. I do not have the time nor the patience at this point to can or freeze 30 some pounds of pears. So I shared with friends and kept a good amount to use up for my peeps.

My friend Chris was telling me she made Spice Pear Bread before. That sounded so good. I love Spice Bread, but I also love caramelized pears and I adore a streusel topping and salted caramel…oh my!….I thought let’s do best of all worlds, hoping I wasn’t creating a mosh pit of a bread!

I think I might be OK with this one!

Ingredients:

For the Salted Caramel Pears:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 cups pears, peeled and diced

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoon heavy cream

For the Bread:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon all spice

1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 tablespoons melted unsalted butter

2/3 cup milk (I used unsweetened almond milk)

1 egg

1/3 cup brown sugar

For the Streusel Topping:

1/3 cup oats (not quick oats)

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter

How to:

For the Salted Caramel Pears:

In a large pan melt your butter, add your pears and toss lightly. Add your brown sugar, salt and heavy cream. Stir gently until everything is well combined. Let this cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally until reduced lightly golden. Do not leave this alone or rush this with high heat. It would burn your pears and they would be bitter. Remove from heat and let cool while you prepare the bread.

In a large bowl mix your melted butter, milk, egg and brown sugar. Add your flour mixture at once and mix until just combined (do not overmix). Using a spatula gently fold in your salted caramel pears. Pour your mixture into your prepared pan. Set aside.

For the Streusel Topping:

In a medium bowl combine your flour, oats, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon. Cut your butter into small pieces and add to your oat mixture. Using a pastry cutter or your fingers, mix everything until you have a crumbly mixture. Sprinkle your mixture over your bread batter. Put your bread into your preheated oven and bake for 45-50 minutes.

oven ready

letting this cool is going to be torture!

is it me or this bread is utterly gorgeous?

Let cool completely before slicing….and ENJOY!

Have a slice of deliciousness!

I love this bread and my house smells like Heaven wrapped in Salted Caramel Pears….it’s a good perfume I must say! The taste is so perfect, a touch of salted caramel, soft pears and a moist spice bread….it really works!

I decided to make this delicious combination because the other night my lovely husband treated me to a yummy dinner at Zydeco’s and then a frozen treat at Sub Zero. First off Zydeco’s Cajun Restaurant : DELICIOUS, FUN AND GREAT SERVICE! Win! It was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives a few years back and I see the owner quite often at my part-time job (not the substitute one…the cooking demo one). Debbie is a lovely lady and I love to support local joints! The End.

About the Sub Zero Ice Cream place. It was more an experience rather than kick butt frozen treats….in my humble opinion. The concept is liquid based (ice cream, frozen yogurt, soy milk, coconut milk…etc…). They add a flavoring and mix-ins and wham hit it with liquid nitrogen. Cool concept but overall flavor was so so. I mean don’t take this the wrong way but Ben and Jerry’s still tastes better than that to me. But it’s fun and you’ve got to try it at least once in your lifetime. Check. Done. Now I want real flavor.

Mine was good but I couldn’t really taste the Dulce De Leche. Total bummer. Matt says that it’s because I had too much Reese’s ….sorry but when you add Reese’s you’ve got to go for that extra scoop! 😉

So today, I decided the best way to get this flavor to really hit home was to make it myself. As my mom always told me: if you want something done right do it yourself!

For some reason I saw a lot of recipes online that included heavy cream. I opted for a healthier version…mind you I wouldn’t consider Dulce De Leche healthy but no cream might help a little!

take a close look at this mouth watering frozen yogurt

Ingredients:

1 13.4-ounce can Dulce De Leche

2 1/2 cup non-fat Greek yogurt

1 tablespoon agave syrup (or honey if you prefer)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon sea salt (or kosher salt)

3/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)

How to:

In a large bowl combine your Dulce De Leche, Greek yogurt, agave syrup, vanilla and sea salt. Using a whisk combine everything well. Pour your mixture into your ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer’s instruction. When the madness has run its course gently add your mini chocolate chips while machine is still running. When everything looks dandy put your frozen yogurt into a tightly sealed container and put in your freezer until ready to serve.

the mixture…already 100% better than my Sub Zero frozen treat!

I ❤ my ice cream maker. It makes magic!

In the container it goes….after quite a few taste tests 😉

Or dig in right away! I did! 🙂

Note: if you do not serve the frozen yogurt within the next few hours it may harden but let sit at room temperature for a few minutes and all will be good.

My after dinner treat! Simply perfect!

This is super creamy, a little tart and filled with amazing Dulce De Leche flavors….bursting with flavor…lots…tons….a multitude of flavors…OK OK I’ll stop…but it’s really really really good if you ask me 😉

In a large ziplock bag combine your confectioner/powdered sugar, cinnamon and cocoa powder. Close your bag and combine everything together, no rhyme or reason just do your best! Set aside.

In a medium size saucepan combine your Biscoff spread, butter, chocolate chips and vanilla. Melt on low and stir until well combined. The mixture will be pretty thick but that’s OK. Pour over your cereal and using what ever works for you, gently fold everything so that your cereal are all covered with your Biscoff mixture. Yes, it does take a little effort and yes you will crush some along the way but it is so worth it. SO WORTH IT! (can you tell I am in love!!!)

I know this picture is horrid…I apologize but it’s what happens!

Once your cereal is covered by the Biscoff mixture pour everything into your powdered sugar bag. Close it up and start to shake it (gently) to cover everything!!!!!

Now the hard part…..let this cool. Pour into a large bowl or rimmed baking sheet and DO NOT TOUCH IT….ah who am I kidding? Try a bite or 15….so amazing. But if you manage to let it cool it will be the bestest treat your will EVER eat. So delicious.

come to mama….this is heavenly!

Note: these are also called Muddy Buddies. Also if you cannot find Biscoff Spread you can always go classic and use peanut butter. You may want to skip the cinnamon with the confectioner/powdered sugar….or not.

Another Note: my sweet husband bought me a bag (the size of a small child) of peanut butter & chocolate puppy chow the other day. I told him if he did that again I would torture him. I ate the whole flippin bag. He saw I had an issue with puppy chow, so he didn’t buy anymore….so I made my own. Crazy….I am telling you I AM CRAZY!

want some?

Another Note: Biscoff or Speculoos is usually found near the peanut butter and Nutella (which is so last year…hahaha)

Some days I think I live under a rock. I honestly had never heard of Scotcharoos until a few days ago. Truth be told when I saw the picture of a lovely dessert treat I wanted to make Sunshine for prom night at her friend’s house, I thought it was simply a layer of Rice Krispies squares. I saw the name but thought nothing of it. Then my friend Chris came over and I showed her the recipe and she said: “oh yea I love Scotcharoos….”

What? ummmm…..OK.

So then I had this flashback of never having tried Hamburger Helper until I married Mr. Man. Never having ordered Chinese take-out until I moved in with the “princess” in college. Never having Spam…still!

What’s a silly girl to do? Make Scotcharoos and make some pretty darn good one at that! So take that stupid rock over me!

these little gems are so flippin’ amazing!

Please note this is not the “classic scotcharoos” these have been Isabellized…what ever that means!

Ingredients:

6 cups rice Krispies cereal

1 cup light corn syrup

1 cup sugar

1 cup peanut butter

2 cups chocolate chips, divided

1 cup butterscotch chips

1/2 cup peanut butter chips

How to:

Spray a 9X13 baking dish with cooking spray, set aside.

In a large bowl combine your cereal with 1 cup chocolate chips. Set aside.

In a saucepan, combine your corn syrup and your sugar. On medium heat gently stir until sugar has melted. Remove from heat and add your peanut butter. Gently stir until combined and creamy. Add to your cereal and chocolate chips mix. Quickly stir. The heat from the peanut butter mixture will melt some of your chocolate chips, go for it. Don’t worry about it too much. It will taste amazing. Spread your mixture into your prepared pan. Set aside.

the peanut butter mixture is quite spectacular if you ask me!

all set!

In a heat proof dish combine your 1 cup chocolate chips with your butterscotch chips. Starting with 30 seconds heat in your microwave. Stirring after each time. (I did 30 secs then another 30 secs. but followed with 15 seconds increments as to not burn my chips) Once completely melted pour over your cereal mixture and spread evenly. Set aside.

chocolate & butterscotch make a beautiful friendship!

In another small heat proof dish melt your peanut butter chips in microwave. Again stirring after each time. (I would suggest 15-20 seconds increments) Using a spoon, place dollops of your melted chips over the chocolate/butterscotch layer. Using a knife gently run through to swirl the peanut butter with the chocolate/butterscotch layer. Done! Place in your fridge (if in a hurry) or leave to cool at room temperature until chips have hardened.

there is no rules here….just dollops of peanut butter! Whatever works!

Do you guys have an unusual recipe you would like to share with me? If interested please email me at: isamvor@comcast.net I would love to blog with all my readers all the fun, perhaps bizarre yet delicious recipes that you want to share with me/us.

you know it’s a good cake when my mom tells me it’s perfectly delicious and she must have it for breakfast as well! 😉

I found this recipe a while back in my Saveur magazine. I guess I held on to it so I could find a good reason to make it.

Reason #1. We were on vacation.

Reason #2. It was HOT outside and I was in heaven.

Reason #3. I sat by a pool all day with nothing to do but sit.

Extra reason: I made dinner for everyone as a thank you for having us spend Spring Break with them….which meant my horrible lovely brother and my BFF Janine’s terrible wonderful husband Dan could torture me all night. AND I FED THOSE TWO BAD BOYS!

Saying things like: “it’s more of a door stopper than a cake!” “knocking on the table…what’s that? Isabelle’s cake” “remember when we were kids eating peanut butter and soda crackers having a whistling contest? This cake would work as well” “moisture, where are you?” “I know what it’s like to eat sand now” and on and on….

Whisk flour, sugar, cinnamon, and baking soda, in a bowl; make a well in the center. Bring shortening, cocoa powder, butter, and 1/2 cup water to a boil in a 1-qt. saucepan. Cook, whisking constantly, until smooth, 5-7 minutes; let cool slightly. Whisk in milk mixture and eggs. Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients until a smooth batter form. Pour batter into greased pan and smooth top. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 25-30 minutes; let cool.

the start

baked

For the icing:

Whisk confectioners’ sugar and cocoa powder in a bowl. Simmer milk and butter in a 2-qt. saucepan over medium heat until butter is melted, 3-4 minutes. Whisk in sugar mixture until smooth. Pour icing over cake; let set completely, about 30 minutes.

I have been making this recipe for quite some time. I don’t even know why I haven’t shared it with you guys. It is so delicious. Kids love it and you can truly make the whole thing in no time. It is not too sweet. It is a quick breakfast on a busy morning and it is absolutely amazing with a hot cup of tea.

I think that it would probably be easy to swipe the chocolate chips with blueberries or peanut butter chips or butterscotch chips…I say this but in all honesty I haven’t tried it simply because the hormonal wonderful teens that always hang at our house are somewhat obsessed in love with chocolate!

look at that gorgeous color and the amazing crust! YUM!

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup rolled oats (old fashion NOT quick oats)

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces and kept very cold

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup cold buttermilk

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg, whisked (for topping)

Raw/Torbinado sugar (for topping)

How to:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone mat. Set aside.

In a large bowl combine your flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add your cold butter. Using a pastry cutter or your finger combine your butter to your flour mixture until you have a coarse mixture. You shouldn’t have pieces any larger than a pea.

I do love my pastry cutter!

Add your chocolate chips, buttermilk, 1 egg and vanilla. Using a wooden spoon combine until all liquid is absorbed. Your dough will be extremely sticky. Dump everything on a well floured surface (wooden cutting board is best in my opinion). Using your hands (best tools known to man!) knead your dough gently until your have a soft texture (do not over knead). Form into an 8 or 9-inch circle about 1- 1 1/2-inch thick. Cut into 8 pieces. Put all 8 scones on your prepared baking sheet. Brush with your whisked egg and sprinkle with your raw sugar. (amount suggestive to taste, about 1/2 teaspoon per scones I guess)

make sure it is not too thin

8 “almost even” pieces 😉

ready to go!

Put in your preheated oven and bake for 17-18 minutes.

doesn’t that look so scrumptious?

take a closer look…don’t you just want to take a bite?!

Let cool and enjoy.

perfect afternoon snack!

Note: I like to cut my butter into small pieces and put it back in the fridge for a few minutes while I get everything else ready. I find that by the time I cut my butter into the small pieces it has already started to warm/melt just from the heat of my hands….just a thought maybe your hands don’t melt butter! 😉

Believe it or not finding a simple recipe for a pineapple cake/quick bread proved to be quite the task. Who would have thought that such a simple concept would turn into a search rivaled to the Lockness Monster search….yea yea I exaggerate. As luck would have it Mrs Stewart had the right recipe for me. Finally a recipe that didn’t include bananas or dried fruits or nuts or something other than pineapple and coconut!

take a bite of this super moist, super flavorful and simply stunning loaf cake!

Using an electric mixer on high-speed, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Reduce speed to low, and alternately add flour mixture in three parts and yogurt in two, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Mix just until combined (do not overmix).

Note: Mrs Stewart used pineapple chunks. I didn’t want big pieces of pineapple in my cake (my kids’ request). I wanted the flavor and the cake to be super moist. She also used sour cream, I like (and always have on hand) Greek yogurt. Also it said it should bake for 65 – 70 minutes, but I must disagree (respectfully so of course) mine took way longer.

Note: this doesn’t make a lot of cookies….but since it is January and we are all trying to be healthy and all that jazz I figure I should try to over do it. Also the cookies are not super sweet, feel free to up the sugar if prefer but I feel that it is a tea cookie and therefore should blow your sweet tooth! Finally, I used a blood orange hence the pink hue to my cookies, feel free to use what ever type of oranges your like or even orange juice if that is all you have.

My sister-in-law (Mr. Man’s sister) gets me magazine subscriptions for my birthday. Last year she included the Cook’s Illustrated subscription. It is a wonderful publication. Thing is, they really get down to the nitty gritty of why, how and why some more….something we all know is way too time consuming for a multi-tasker like myself. I just have to get to whatever I need to do in about 1 shot and sometimes less! Glad they do their homework, for them, for me….for all of us!

When I read their recipe for Blueberry Bundt Cake I was taken back on how simple and logical it was to make a blueberry puree (they called it a blueberry filling) for the cake as opposed to simply adding the blueberries to the cake mix. Even distribution of the blueberry taste is pure genius! Why didn’t I think of that?! Well…..I remember….I didn’t think of that because I was probably rushing to make my cake in the past and didn’t stop to calculate how better it would be if the blueberries were evenly dispersed!

This is a beautiful cake, the taste is out of this world and it really elevates a simple blueberry Bundt cake to become an elegant dessert.

cake….such a marvelous creation!

(Yes…I did change a few things….I had to make it mine!)

Ingredients:

For the Cake:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

3/4 cup buttermilk

Zest of 1 lemon

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 large eggs plus 1 large yolk

18 tablespoons (2 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 cups sugar

For the blueberry puree:

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon cornstarch

2 cups fresh or thawed frozen blueberries

Zest and juice of one lemon

How to:

For the puree:

In a small saucepan combine your sugar, cornstarch, blueberries, lemon zest and juice. Using a wooden spoon combine everything well. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Let your mixture simmer for about 20 minutes. Remove from the heat. Using an immersion blender (or in your blender) puree your mixture. I wanted some blueberry texture so I didn’t make it completely soft. Let this cool to room temperature (very important to let it cool to room temperature to obtain the proper texture). You will notice your puree will start to look and feel like jelly. Set aside until ready to use.

In your mixer cream together your butter and sugar until pale and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Add your eggs, combine well. Reduce speed to low and add 1/3 of your flour mixture, followed by half of buttermilk mixture, mixing until just incorporated. Repeat using 1/2 of remaining flour mixture followed by remaining buttermilk mixture. Scrape down bowl, add remaining flour mixture, and mix at medium-low speed until batter is thoroughly combined.

Spoon half the batter into your prepared cake pan. Smooth top. Using the back of a spoon, create 1/2-inch deep channel in center of batter. Spoon half of puree into channel. Using a butter knife thoroughly swirl filling into batter. Repeat swirling step with remaining batter and puree. *there should be no large pockets of puree remaining.

the groove 😉

here we go!

it all makes sense…doesn’t it?

don’t be afraid to swirl away!

and keep going and going….

looking all swirled up (does that even make sense?)

Bake in your preheated oven for 60-70 minutes (mine took 65). Let cake cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes, then invert cake directly onto wire rack. Let cake cool for a few hours prior to serving.